Rhubarb custard a sweet-tart of a cake

HANDOUT

Rhubarb custard kuchen

Rhubarb custard kuchen (HANDOUT)

Monica Kass Rogers, Special to the Tribune

Rhubarb lovers have written in search of old recipes for the ruby-colored "pie plant." Here's a recipe worth reviving. It's from the long-defunct Bill Zuber's Restaurant and Dugout Lounge that was located in Homestead, Iowa, in the Amana Colonies.

Anyone who has visited the seven-village cluster has sampled some of the German comfort food the place is known for. The German Pietists who founded Amana lived and ate in communities there from 1855 to 1930. Fifty-two community kitchens — each with its own garden — prepared meals for the villagers. Cooks usually had a little friendly competition going to see who could prepare the best food. One of those competing recipes was rhubarb obst kuchen — rhubarb-custard topped cake — a special, Sunday-dinner dessert.

"People would drive out to the restaurant just for that cake," said Connie, 90. The Zubers' version of the cake may have come from Bill's mother.

"She was a kuechenbaas — kitchen boss — in Middle-Amana," Connie recalled, "and a very good cook."

Rhubarb custard cake

Prep: 35 minutes

Rise: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Cook: 45 minutes

Makes: 8 servings

This yeast cake is best eaten while still warm. The dough part of the recipe makes enough for five cakes; extra dough can be refrigerated.

Dough:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 cake fresh compressed yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

6 cups sifted flour

6 tablespoons vegetable shortening, melted

Filling for each cake:

1 cup sugar

2 cups sliced rhubarb (in 1/4-inch slices)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons flour

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 For filling, sprinkle 1/2 cup of the sugar over rhubarb in a bowl; let sit overnight. Drain juice from rhubarb. Set rhubarb aside. Cook juice until reduced to a syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat, 5-10 minutes. Add rhubarb. Cool.

2 For pastry, heat milk, sugar and salt together in saucepan over medium-high heat almost to a boil. Pour into large mixing bowl; cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water in small bowl; add to cooled milk. Add 3 cups of the flour; beat with mixer until smooth. Beat in shortening. Beat or stir in remaining 3 cups of the flour.

3 Turn dough out on floured board; knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn dough to coat. Cover; set in warm place free from drafts. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 3 hours. Separate dough into five balls. Wrap those you are not baking; store in refrigerator up to 1 week.

4 Roll out one ball of dough on floured surface; place in a greased, 9-inch pie plate. Push dough up around edges of plate to make a high rim. Pour butter into dough. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the sugar over. Let dough rise 15 minutes.

5 Heat oven to 425 degrees. For filling, press the reserved rhubarb with syrup into the dough. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Sprinkle with flour. Whisk together egg and cream in small bowl; spoon over cake, popping any bubbles that surface in the flour. Place cake in oven; cover with an inverted large roasting pan. Bake 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees. Remove inverted pan. Bake until crust is browned and custard topping is firm, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.